Q&A: How much does an interior decorator get paid?

Question by : How much does an interior decorator get paid?
By the client? I'm doing some research and I was wondering, if a decorator works at a firm and that firm gets a job to decorate an entire office building with, let's say 25 floors, in Manhattan. How much would the client pay firm and how much would the decorator receive? And also, is that a reasonable job?

Best answer:

Answer by Julia
Well first off, many decorators work within the residential market, not commercial. There are some that do commercial spaces but its pretty limited. For jobs like the one you are using as an example, the firm would most likely be using Interior Designers within a large firm. Most of the larger projects are going to be done by licensed professionals as opposed to decorators who don't need to have a license to practice.

Doing a large job like 25 floors really depends on what the client needs. If they just want furniture then the cost is going to be smaller than if they want to move walls and completely re construct the buildings interiors. It also depends on what kind of furniture and lighting the client wants. Most commercial furniture is VERY expensive. Just an office chair can cost up to $ 800 or more.

Also the client would have to take into consideration if the building is new or old, if there are structural changes that need to be made or if certain codes need to be updated. So you can see that for such a big project there are many components to it and there is a lot to take into consideration.

If you are wondering about just Interior Decorators salaries, they usually get paid on commission and can charge either a base rate for their services or an hourly fee. The amount they charge can depend on what they are doing and where they are working.

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